The broad long-term objective of the NCCU Support for Continuous Research Excellence (SCORE) program is to enhance and expand the overall biomedical research capability at North Carolina Central University. Our targeted outcome is to increase the number of underrepresented minorities who conduct biomedical research. NCCU's SCORE has two program goals - 1) increased research productivity of PIs and 2) increased research interest and participation in biomedical research by non-MBRS departmental faculty members. Measurable objectives for these goals are 1) to increase the number of faculty publications in peer-reviewed journals; 2) to increase the number and quality of collaborations for faculty investigators; 3) to increase the number of faculty presentations at national scientific meetings; and 4) to increase the number of non-MBRS faculty members seeking and winning external support through MBRS and other funding sources. [unreadable] [unreadable] This application is a supplemental application that seeks support to add one new subproject to the existing parent grant. Currently, NCCU's SCORE has 3 funded subprojects and 2 pilot projects. The NCCU subprojects represent faculties in departments of Biology, Chemistry, Psychology and the Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute. In this application, Dr. Steve O. Franklin requests support to test his hypothesis that hormonal receptor activity may involve one or more transcription factors that regulate Penk gene expression in the striatum. The importance of this evaluation resides in the role that the enkephalins and EC peptides play as neurotransmitters, the reported role played by EC peptides in the adaptation to stress both physical and psychological, and the potential for finding a new mechanism and target for the hormonal regulation of neuropeptide gene expression in the CNS. This subproject fits well within the scope of NCCU's biomedical sciences program, and will contribute significantly to its overall research capacity. [unreadable] [unreadable]